


"Hi, Mom."

by ronqueesha



Series: My Warrior [4]
Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-15
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-03-05 00:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13376682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronqueesha/pseuds/ronqueesha
Summary: Some time after the reaper war, Earthborn Jane Shepard finally gets to reunite with her mother. At the grave site she had been buried years before.





	"Hi, Mom."

**Author's Note:**

> This was an off-the-cuff tumblr post of mine. It was just a reaction to a piece of fanart I saw of Garrus and a spacer Shepard speaking to their respective parents, and telling them of their relationship. I immediately started thinking about my Shepard, and how a scenario might possibly play out.
> 
> You can tell this was an experimental thing because it's written (mostly) in present tense. I never do that.

There is no monument of stone, or a bouquet of arranged flowers. There’s only a simple metal marker on the ground, overgrown by decades of neglect. There are thousands of others on this open field, all arranged within centimeters of each other. No room for entire bodies to be laid to rest, not anymore. Cremation urns and other vessels lay below the ground, placed there decades ago by city workers doing their duty.

Jane kneels down, even though her right knee begs her not to. She rests against the ground with her sole remaining arm, spending a moment to gain balance. Once stable, and she can ignore the terrible wrenching in her leg, her hand moves to pull the grass and vines away from the plain metal marker.

The letters are faded, and a scorch mark covers the upper right corner. Maybe from the Reapers, maybe something else. All that mattered was that she could still read the information engraved onto it. 

_Hannah Sullivan. Unknown - 11 April, 2154._

“Hi, mom.” Jane Shepard says to the marker.

She did not know how Liara found this. The Asari must have dug through a half-century of old records, reassembled data destroyed by the Reapers, and plumbed through some of the most secure information networks in human history. Trivial tasks for the Shadow Broker, she supposed. Or maybe a trivial task for one exceptional Asari.

Behind Jane, her family stands in quiet contemplation. Liara of course, her blue frame covered in a long dress made of black cloth. To her side, their daughter Falani wears a similar garment, though with a long purple shawl over her shoulders. An old Asari custom, she was told. To Liara’s right, their adopted son, Marcus Carter, shuffles on uncomfortable feet in his ill-fitting black suit.

Jane looks over the marker. Nothing else had been printed on it, not even a serial number. Just the name and the tiny scrap of information the hospital had on this poor woman before she passed away giving birth to the one who would eventually save the galaxy.

Through Liara’s digging, Jane knew Hannah had lived on the streets. A life of poor decisions and drug use made her medically incapable of receiving treatment for her heart condition. And an arrest record for attempted robbery and other crimes meant she was unable to serve in the Alliance military or join the colonial office. The woman had been strong, though. Strong enough to carry a baby almost to term all on her own, without any support from friends or family. She gave the last of her strength so Jane Shepard could be brought into the world.

Like mother, like daughter, she supposed. Though Jane had found her own path out of the darkness.  

“I know it’s a little late.” She says with a broken smile and a choked laugh as she straightens up and beckons her family closer. She listens as the trio shuffles forward. Both Asari seem caught between trying to not appear disrespectful and remaining supportive. The human boy takes steps too large for his frame. “Mom, I wanted you to know that I’m okay. Your baby is okay. I had some rough spots,” She wriggles her empty right shoulder at that, “but I think I turned out all right.”  

Her knee aches as she shifts position to allow her to sit on the overgrown grass. Her clothing would get a massive green stain on them later, but she didn’t care.

She feels a familiar, warm blue hand on her shoulder, and she takes it. “Mom, I’d like you to meet Liara. She’s… without her, I wouldn’t be here right now. I don’t know if you would have approved or not, but it doesn’t matter. Without this wonderful Asari, your baby wouldn’t have lived nearly as long. I love her with everything I have.” She lets go of the hand just long enough to show the marker the simple golden ring on her finger. “Oh, and we’re married. So I guess you have a daughter-in-law.”

Liara’s hand retracts, and Jane lifts her hand to beckon her children up. Falani’s slender aqua hand comes first. Marcus’s large brown hand covers them both. “And these are your grandchildren, Marcus and Falani. I wish you could see them, mom. They’ve grown up so fast.” Her Asari daughter’s hand squeezes tight. “They make me proud every single day. They’re so strong, mom. Growing up in a galaxy like this. I don’t know how they do it, or put up with me. But I couldn’t have asked for better kids.”

Her children let go in unison, and Jane hears Marcus wrap his arms around his little blue sister as she sniffles back a sob.

As they move back, Liara takes a step forward and sits down beside Jane, heedless of what the graveyard’s grass would do to her expensive clothing. The Shadow Broker rests her head on the human’s neck.

They remained there for a long time, perhaps too long. Tufts of cloud in the blue sky sometimes blotted the sun, only to fizzle away and be replaced by another. Nearby tress drifted in the gentle wind, sometimes blowing a leaf into the scene, which forced Jane to ignore her complaining knee and wipe it away.

“I’m sorry I never got to meet you.” Jane says after an eternity passed between her and the grave marker. “I hope you’re proud of me… wherever you are.”

A lone heavy tear runs hot down her cheek as Liara reaches out to wrap her hand around Shepard’s arm. “She is. I know she is.”


End file.
